Indiana Jones And The Fake Crystal Skulls?

I recall a similar artifact, though it was a real skull in a mosaic of turquoise while taking classes with Phil Weigand, PhD who had a "neutron activation of turquoise aboriginal mine sources" NSF grant at the nearby to Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Lab, home of Garman Harbottle an emeritus chemist in archaeology. Turquoise is problematic in central American archaeology sites, only, to my knowledge, found in the American Southwest, where small mines had been explored by Weigand as a grad student at the University of Illinois with a professor Kelly I think. At the time, "neutron activation" of very small samples (50 mgs or less) was thought, from the trace element analysis in "statistical hyperspace" (think analysis through layers of spreadsheets) would provide a "signature" that could be used to determine fakes from real turquoise artifacts. A similar program is currently being used to relocate sculpture perhaps and heads with their iconoclast's resulting pieces. What resulted is an interesting prehistory of early Mexico and it's links with the American Southwest. Indiana Jones And The Fake Crystal Skulls? | Scientific Blogging